Birmingham recycling plant will turn plastic element of sanitary waste into building products

A recycling plant is to be built in Birmingham that will supply roof tiles made from recycled nappies.

The facility, due to open in 2010, is being developed by Knowaste, a specialist in recycling nappies and adult incontinence products. The roofing products, which will be manufactured by Mailbox Mouldings and distributed by Knowaste's spin-off company Small Planet 星空传媒 Products, use recycled plastic that will initially come from a variety of sources until the Birmingham plant is up and running.

The recycling process sanitises the waste to produce two outputs: plastic and cellulose organic residue for green energy. The plastic will be made into a variety of products, including plastic cladding, decking and roof tiles.

Roy Brown, president and chief executive of Knowaste, said: 鈥淢ore than 750,000 tonnes of nappy waste is disposed of in the UK each year 鈥� a figure that highlights the importance of developing alternative uses for post-consumer nappies. There is an obvious potential for synergy between the material waste produced by industry and householders and the raw materials required to produce construction products.鈥�

The roof tiles will be available in black, green, grey, red and brown.

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